Football Betting: Could Fergie Jnr meet Keane's expectations?

Premier League / Dan Fitch / 28 April 2009 / Leave a Comment

Roy Keane's views on his former Manchester United team-mates may be flawed, says Dan Fitch, but none of them has made a convincing case to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson. However, could a lesser-known ex-United player with a familiar name be a candidate for the job?

You've got to love Roy Keane. Either that or really hate him. For Keane is a man towards whom it is difficult to harbour mixed emotions.

Within minutes of becoming the new boss of Ipswich Town, he sparked controversy by claiming that none of his former Manchester United team-mates from the 1993/94 season have become successful managers.

The rationale for Keane's claim was that as none of them has won a trophy as a manager, they could not be described as successful. Keane is clearly not a man who advocates the maxim that it is the taking part, rather than the winning, that counts.

It seems rather a flawed argument. According to Keane's reasoning, the only managers in the Premier League that could be described as successful, are Sir Alex Ferguson, Rafa Benitez, Guus Hiddink, Arsene Wenger, Martin O'Neill, Roy Hodgson and Harry Redknapp, although who knows if all those Swedish league championships that Hodgson won would be deemed sufficient for the exacting Keane.

It seems a bit harsh to label managers of the calibre of David Moyes and Sam Allardyce as merely possessing potential. Of the ex-United players that have been slighted by Keane, it is the Wigan boss Steve Bruce who currently has the most reason to feel aggrieved.

When Bruce was appointed as manager of Wigan, his job was not to win trophies, but to keep them in the Premier League.

Bruce has excelled in steering Wigan to the relative safety of mid-table in a season where he was forced to sell players like Wilson Palacios, Ryan Taylor and Emile Heskey as well as deal with Amr Zaki's puzzling reversal of form. Wigan can be backed at [2.18] to beat Bolton at home on Saturday.

The Wigan boss has never been given a chance with a club where he was ever likely to win things. Promotion followed by avoiding relegation have been Bruce's priorities. At 48-years old, you wonder if he'll ever get his big chance.

One ex-United star who has been given such a chance is Manchester City's Mark Hughes. Like Bruce, Hughes excelled at a small Premier League outfit, as Blackburn consistently out-punched their weight during his reign as manager.

At Manchester City, things have been slightly tougher. With millions to spend in the transfer market, Hughes is perhaps expected to achieve more than mid-table respectability. With four league games to go, City have a chance of qualifying for the Europa League next season. Whether this will be deemed sufficient for Hughes to keep his job is open to debate.

Given time I think Hughes will prove a success and by that I even mean in the Roy Keane definition of the word. What Hughes needs to achieve this, is for the club's owners to leave the buying of players to him, instead of just snapping up every big name that becomes available as if they're picking a Fantasy Football team. City are [2.06] to beat Hughes' former club Blackburn at the weekend.

Following the loss of Hughes, Blackburn appointed Keane's former midfield partner Paul Ince as boss. I really respected the fact that Ince was willing to prove himself at clubs like Macclesfield and the MK Dons, while his former team-mates were given far cushier opening gigs.

Ince wasn't given enough time at Blackburn to be fairly judged. The club panicked when results dipped, but Ince is young enough to come back and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go up against Keane at a Championship club next season.

Managers should not be judged purely on the amount of trophies they win, although I'm willing to concede that the potless Bryan Robson was rubbish. A measure of the relative success achieved by the ex-United players, will come when their former boss Sir Alex Ferguson finally steps down.

At the moment, none of Ferguson's former team have made a convincing case for taking over the reigns at Old Trafford. Bruce and Keane are currently at [22.0] to be the next United boss, with Hughes at [28.0] and Ince [95.0], but perhaps we should be looking at a lesser known member of the 93/94 squad, albeit with a familiar name.

Sir Alex's son Darren Ferguson already looks like a chip off the old block and is available at [24.0] to take over from his father. Fergie Jnr has enjoyed successive promotions with little Peterborough, to take them from League 2 to playing in the Championship next season. If that's not success Roy, then I don't know what is.